Life on Standby
by theytalktome
Summary: Defenseless against himself, Randy Orton is stuck in a world where he indeed hears voices... Slash: Randy Orton/Batista Cody Rhodes/Ted DiBiase Jr.


Life on Standby

**Headlights flash up on the front of the house, reflecting into windows until the driver expertly parks the vehicle. The large man lies in wait at the front door for the three to appear before him, deep brown optics full of worry - replaced instantly with anger. Ever the chauffer, Cody Rhodes drunkenly stumbles to the rear drivers door, followed almost in perfect synch by DiBiase; who looks as if he's almost managing to not throw up.**

**Ted attempts, with his best shot, to help hoist their leader from the hummer, and almost safely to the ground... Cody, managing to catch the rag-doll like Orton with his body, is sandwiched against the rough pavement. Forgetting the two and the disaster unfolding, the grass is met with a waterfall of million-dollar vomit. **

**Hours later, The Viper has finally come to, silver eyes following a pacing Batista around the room. He's learned, very slowly, to not bother the older man while he's in that kind of mood. The spinning room tells his aching head and churning stomach why his lover is so upset. Failing at an attempt of innocence, he cuddles himself deeper into the sheets he's found himself carelessly tossed on like an old, worn out jacket. Randy remembers a time when this would happen, and Dave would lovingly tend to his vacant body.**

**The powerful voice demands he sit up. Faking doesn't work anymore, and innocence has never been a skill Orton has ever had near his grasp. He isn't sure if he can, but manages to prop himself up on his arms. His stomach revolts, sending its contents up his throat to be choked back down; he's silent and quickly sobered. **

**The Leviathan's voice is tangled in screaming anger, forcing the smaller man into the headboard, wishing he was still stuck in a black out. Only now was it that he realized he was actually in the house, in that bedroom, in their bed, and realizes how much sobriety can go fuck its self. The orange horizon matched his skin tone and his red eyes glance to it for the split second that The Animal had his back to him. He wished his gaze would have met with the alarm clock instead. He almost has to assure himself that he isn't in the ring, and his Legacy isn't on the way to save him... He's sure he can see the titantron, the mat's give beneath him... The voices tell him he's there, but he's learned not to believe them... almost.**

**Batista comes to a halt in front of his husband. His hand crashes hard across Randy's face, the distance in his silver optics are eliminated, attention is focused for a minimal amount of time, even when he's sulking back into the sheets, he's almost learned to not simmer with uncontrollable rage. **

**Half-lidded, sinking into pillows and sheets, Randy struggles to keep focused on Batista. His ears aren't having any trouble focusing, the only thing erupting from dead silence is that man's voice... He knows he can't hear the voices, and now that they're being drowned out, he's thankful for upsetting him enough to raise his voice to barricade the others. Still, in the back of his radio-static mind, he wants to look at the door at exactly the right moment to watch it burst open; Ted DiBiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes to the rescue.**

**Entirely sure that he's gotten hit a second time, Orton watches him leave the room silently. The collision wasn't felt, but the sting was starting to sear in his jaw, and he's laying on his side. He can't remember if he was laying like that before.**

**Beads of sweat run down his forehead, trickling down his neck as the silent room began to turn into static and sudden pops breaking through the crackles of faint voices The Viper knew too familiar, even if they belonged to no one living in his house. He's sitting up now, unaware of the passing hour as day light seems to have just switched on from nowhere, and doesn't remember what he was looking at before. He jumps back, bright silver eyes fixing on the warm brown ones, offering love he'll gladly accept.**

**Miles away he can hear Dave's gentle voice apologizing for what he'd done. It sounds so distant, even if he's resting his head between his shoulder and neck. Batista is sure that his lover's rough, delayed breathing is result of fear, and he almost feels bad that he's smirking at it. Slowly Dave's voice becomes faded to an echoing silence, even though the young man can feel him talking. It's replaced with the same static, and voices telling him to get out, or attain vengeance. **

**Revenge lingers in his mind, his own voice distorted when he's trying to reply. He can't focus on anything but the smell of The Animal's elegant, expensive cologne. It reminds him to get ready for the day, but the conversation taking place in his mind causes him to loose attention, again. He pulls apart when Dave manages to move him, he says something that Randy can't hear, but he backs up anyway, and gets ready to defend himself when they tell him to. His eyes narrow, darkness surrounding them. His body looks as if he's just gone through Armageddon.**

**Unaware, he stands, his breath heavy as his eyes assess Dave, studying each movement he barely makes. Everything he knows he could do, every possibility, everything's gone, except the consistent wish for his Legacy. His eye twitches and lips draw into a snarl as he watches him stand. It's too hard to say the right thing, the voices stop, and he cocks his head to the side, confused and attempting to keep up his defense. It feels too safe in those enormous arms that hold him close. He licks his lips, looking up at him, mouthing for the older man not to let him win. It's not the "I love you, too" that Dave expects, and it's his turn to remain silent.**

**Their fingers interlace, The Leviathan is leading his husband back to the bed, and forcibly lays him there. He enjoys the dominance, and the way he's made him into a train wreck when a jolt screams up through Randy's spine, causing him to jerk and freeze up. Their lips meet, vein laced silver eyes close as he melts into it, locking his tattoo covered arms around the man's shoulders - who can feel his heart stop beating. Batista takes note of every motion that Orton makes; and the way his body catches fire, hotter than the heated blanket he likes to wrap himself up in every night.**

**Randy takes a second to lick his lips before The Animal bites down on them, releasing venomous blood into both of their mouths, the crimson poison interlacing between taste buds. Their eyes dilate like vicious sharks as they go at it with one another. **

**Dave sits up, straddling The Viper beneath him as he pulls off his wife beater, tossing it onto a chair. Randy pulls apart, his head snaps back before lunging forward, razorblade teeth sink into his hip bone while he groans in lust at the taste of his lover's blood, and bits of skin his teeth manage to rake off; he isn't too fond of his own but this he knows is just as delicious as Cody Rhodes'. Batista growls, his fist crashing against Randy sounds like a gunshot.**

**Orton twists beneath The Animal's body, his eyes close, burrowing his face into the mattress. The clothing he didn't realize had changed from the previous night was torn off and thrown carelessly on the ground when he looks at them, they seem so unfamiliar, he didn't remember buying them, and realizes they might have been a gift from Cody - he likes to dress him up for some reason Randy isn't sure of. **

**He gasps out as his body is ravaged, he wonders if he realizes he isn't all there tonight. **

**Desire burns his deeply tanned body a dark shade of red, but he neglects to warm to his lover's harsh movements within him, turning clammy and dangerously cold. Batista doesn't stop to question it, he's done so before, and couldn't care less any more. He feels so alive inside a writhing, screaming Randy Orton.**

**From far beyond the grave, Randy lights up and becomes magnificent and powerful. They tell him to moan, and work with Dave's movements, for his sake. He's telling them to shut up, because this is one thing he can certainly do his self, and knows he's an expert at.**

**Continuously calling out his name, either way, something about it strikes out in Dave's mind; he wants to sit back, stop everything, but he won't. **

**The Viper's mind goes hazy, he can almost feel himself faint under the man's weight, and uses every bit of force in him to stay up and stay as alert as possible. He groans, eyes rolled back in pleasure as the friction should have heated his deceased-like body. He glances over the flesh that's left unmarred, and fails to truly register that he's become as pale as an Irishman. **

**Visions of something, somewhere else, backstage waiting, clouding the room lit by only the morning sunlight as The Deacon's lips meet the nape of his neck.**

**Silver eyes open suddenly, he needs to close them again, and realize what the sudden blackness was. He pushes himself up with his arms, beginning to feel strong fingers running over his hair. He smiles slightly, he's almost forgotten how to do it, and lays back down on his chest, nodding when he hears that the other needs to leave soon. Dave's voice is clear, soft, and undistorted; Randy hardly recognizes it anymore, but kisses him sweetly when he does.**

**He begins to ask Randy if he remembers - when he's interrupted by a voice that tells Randy he can't remember anything - when he used to pester him, and say his name over and over a thousand times, and Dave would ignore him, hoping he'd stop because he was the most annoying person he'd ever met. Randy nods, embarrassed. **

**Dave's chuckle sends fear through his spine, before he realizes the unfamiliar noise. He tells him he misses the annoying way he used to act. A meek apology leaves Orton's lips moments before being tossed aside for him to get ready for his flight. He gets dressed as Randy's pulling sheets around himself, unsure why he feels strange being naked in front of him, as far as he remembers, he likes to walk around the house with out anything on.**

**Randy Orton stands in the driveway, listening to the static blocking out the birds singing around him. His eyes focused on the white hummer, even when it's out of sight. He almost wonders if he could sleep there on the tar... with out a neighbor calling the police. They tell him to get up, he doesn't realize he's been sitting, because the afternoon is settling in - when he's inside staring at the clock he debates the prescription drugs Mr. McMahon has demanded he get, and threatens to fire him every time he refuses.**

**He wants them to leave. He's afraid if they do, he'll be lost.**

**He walks through the hall, clouded in visions of walking down the ramp. He's faced to the refrigerator, and again can't find anything. He swears that one day Rhodes is going to end up bigger than his brother, and father - and smirks at the curiosity of sex like that before it sounds disgusting and impossible for that to happen to the poor kid. **

**He goes through the cupboards and drawers, deciding on pancakes for his Legacy and deciding they didn't need to go to the gym today. His mind seems to have idled for a while as he flips them absently, holding a little too tight on the spatula as his knuckles turn white.**

**On the stairs, dizzy and loosing his mind, The Viper collapses on the stair case and tries again to balance himself. He knows he can't go on living this way; especially when it dawns on him that he'd drank himself into a black out, and knows he isn't drunk, even if they're trying to convince him that he's completely wasted. It seems like every day. **

**Getting up and walking to his bed room to take back his life, his hands convulse and drop the bottle of pills he's reaching desperately for, loosing the fight against everything that makes him throw the prescription to the floor. He stares, wide eyed at the scattered mess before him that he knows he'll beg Dave to clean up, or Cody will see it, and clean it again out of pity. **

**The bottle will be sitting on the dresser again, tonight he will be sitting awake in bed staring at it. He'll try to ask him to wake up, because he desperately needs comfort, he can't rely on the voices to tell him he's fine all the time, but he'll tell him to go back to sleep. He remembers Dave has left, and is lost again.**

**Cody and Ted don't respond when Randy attempts to shake the two awake, groggily telling him to leave and pulling the sheets over their head. He chuckles a bit, and the voices leave; they always leave when he's with them. With a smile, he whispers to them as gently as he can that he made breakfast. He knows he hasn't been the kindest person lately, and they don't deserve to be treated like that - when they're the only reason he feels safe.**

**The previous night bursts into his mind in flashes, his hands on Cody's hips, grinding hard into him on the dance floor. Cody's always been a slut, and he works it better than anyone else ever could. Randy comments back at the bar, that Rhodes' father has raised him very well, and knows just how badly that angers Ted, so he uses that tone of voice that would piss anybody off - he isn't too surprised when DiBiase's fist nearly collides with his face.**

**Ted shakes at the thought of Cody and his family life, his anger makes him look venomous, if it wasn't for his good-boy appearance. Randy knows he's inherited this... and isn't sure if he's proud, or worried.**

**Cody rolls over, yawning and wrapping his arms around Ted again. Jealousy runs through Randy - and the voices return. The two cuddle close, and their leader doesn't know when the last time he's actually spent a real loving moment with Dave was. He knows Dave doesn't care anymore, and he knows he isn't sure if he himself still cares.**

**They hardly sleep in the same room, let alone bed. **

**The Viper has revealed his softer side to his Legacy, and is heavily ashamed of it.**

**He wants nothing more than to erase it from Batista's mind that he's begged countless times for children, each time coming up a "No." that he's now thankful for - he's afraid of passing down the insanity going through his brain, and even afraid of it happening to Rhodes and DiBiase. **

**He thinks Dave had something to do with the storylines, something that got him these two to shape into the perfect superstars. They're the closest he has to children now, and regretfully treats them as such.**

**Time has almost come for them to move on - they've picked up everything they can, and have bigger things to do. They've talked about moving out. Their voices and phrases have almost embedded into distorted vocals coursing through the crowded mind of Orton, along side his father's resentment, and others he's never heard. **

**Dave told him to grow up, and get a life when Randy had come running, sobbing to him from over hearing that the two where looking for their own place near Rhodes' father, no doubt.**

**The harlot awakens after a bit more pestering - he's never been able to resist The Viper. He purrs beautifully, the way he knows the older man likes. He knows the way everyone likes it. **

**The consistent tension between himself and DiBiase makes him wary to not have sex with Rhodes right there, as he normally would have. They tell him to do it anyway, because they know he likes to provoke trouble, and take what he wants. His tattooed arms push the boy down into the pillow while the other takes off with a mouth full of vomit. **

**Suddenly partying again tonight isn't a bad idea...**

**Bright and cheery, with the ability to hold his liquor better than his lover, or lovers, has Cody rinsing the dishes off while Orton nibbles uninterested at a piece of toast that had clearly seen better days. **

**He gets off the counter, because he knows Dave would have told him to, and fixes his arms around Ted's waist, pulling him a couple feet back from Rhodes, and whispering back and forth about how great his ass was looking this morning.**

**Cody doesn't turn his head, he can feel the deep redness taking over his cheeks. He glances back to the sudden silence, that's met with getting to see DiBiase swapping saliva with Orton. Slightly jealous, he turns back to the dish washer and coughs, asking Ted rather loudly if he's shown Randy the place they've bought. **

**The two pull apart, and Randy attempts to chuckle when Cody informs him he'd have no problem finding it, because its right next to his father's house. Orton wonders for a couple moments if Dusty realizes what he's in for yet - aside from amazing nights in bed.**

**Shocked, Randy just stands there when he's asked to help them start packing today.**

**At the first thought of his father, Cody is always instant to do everything as soon as possible. With a not so clever excuse, he refuses.**

**Cody flops down excitedly on the couch beside Randy a few hours later, waking him in the process and almost getting his head bitten off for it. He notices the boy is thumbing through a phone book, and gathers he's sent Ted out to buy boxes. **

**When he's finished, his arms are wrapped around Orton, and he shoo's his dog from the couch. His voice is soft, and breaks through the conversation going on in the older man's mind.**

**Cody's voice is beautiful. It's genuine and perfect, sexy, and Randy can't hear anything but that voice, with its gentle lisp and loving tones. It turns even softer, and he sounds saddened - he listens closer. Randy can't understand why he's apologizing so much, and trying to help, and offering him to stay with them in their new place. **

**Cody is sorry about the divorce.**

**Silver eyes watch him leave up the stairs. He jumps up determined to save him from the sledgehammer he's about to get knocked out with. He looks behind him, motioning for DiBiase to follow as he races down the ramp.**

**Randy's shaken back to reality, on the staircase, on top of Cody. He apologizes now, and is thankful that the boy understands, and knows.**

**Rhodes stands, carefully helping his leader up off the floor, trying to hide the realization that Randy should be committed to Arkham. He offers his usual crooked smile, and kisses him sweetly before taking another box downstairs. **

**He's puzzled to see Orton still standing there, in the same spot. It looks as if he's listening to something, and realizes that he is. He sighs gently, and helps him to his bedroom, he doesn't know that his voice can break through everything in that man's insanity, and comments to himself that he's nuts as he lays him in bed.**

**The ceiling fan spins… and spins… and finally helps him realize he's laying in bed, and come to terms that his savior has called him insane. The room erupts with laughter, and fake consoling. **

**His eyes shift to the dresser, fingers loosely picking up the phone. He tries to hold back tears as he watches his fingers dial the number. It rings, and rings, and hangs up. Intrigue, or anger, makes the number call back, and now he's too afraid to answer, and throws the phone as hard as possible against the wall - it hit's the television mounted there, breaking it. He can't hear it as it falls onto the dresser, where it knocks everything else off, then onto the floor.**

**He doesn't hear Ted run into the room, followed by Cody. They pull him up off the floor. **

**Rhodes is attempting to say how Dave called back, and is on the phone waiting for him. DiBiase attempts to tell him he's going to clean up the mess, and immediately recruits his boyfriend's help on assessing the mess. **

**Orton rips the phone from Cody's grasp, and leaves. **

**He's in the basement, breathing heavy and resting against something, the name of which he can't remember, even if it's basic, and seen every day. His voice is shaky as he sinks to the floor, and weakly greets Batista's voice, asking if what Cody said is true.**

**His other hand wraps around his ribs, and teeth sink into his lips. Dave doesn't answer, and instead offers to take him to the race track when he comes back from the Philippines. With a bright smile, Randy almost bursts into joy - until remembering how badly it would end. He knows he gets annoying fast. He sighs heavily, and refuses, asking again if it's true.**

**He can't figure out why Dave dodges around the question. It's almost like he's deliberately trying to make him forget when he tells him how much he loves him. It makes Orton smile, but not for long. It's hard to smile when everyone is laughing at you. Rage boils within him, and he's screaming for a direct answer.**

**He releases Rhodes' phone, the cover preventing it from snapping to pieces. He's being divorced. Dave's voice echo's, asking him if he's still there, but he can't hear it. They prevent him from crying.**

**Gray eyes flutter open to pitch darkness until he can find his way around and hit the light switch. For the longest time, he can only register that it's cold, and then it hits he's in the basement, on the phone he can't seem to find.**

**They tell him he fell asleep and he agrees, looking around for the stairs as if he didn't recognize his own home. He shakes his head, trying to grasp hold of consciousness.**

**They're quiet for once. Everything sounds normal. The clock tells him its four AM. His fingers massage his temples as he heads upstairs to his bedroom, just to find everything is missing. He blinks quickly, hoping looking a second time would make everything fall back into place. It doesn't. Worried, he runs to the room Rhodes and DiBiase share, just to find everything missing there as well.**

"**It's time for your medicine, Mr. Batista, how are you feeling?"**

**Randy turns around to the female voice echoing through the empty, black hallway. Nobody is there.**

"**Your husband is here to see you," her voice is kind and sincere… like Rhodes'.**

**They tell him to pay attention, and to stop reminiscing. He closes his eyes, breathing a bit before he opens them again. He's standing in five stories above the street, locked behind a small colonial window covered with steel bars he's tried to break. Staring at a tree lined road that seems to go on for miles, the rows of tall street lamps illuminating the pavement.**

**He glances down, his jeans are gone, and his Age of Orton shirt disappears before his eyes. Slowly, he turns around, glancing at his small, plain cot in the enclosed, tiny room that hardly has room to walk in. He looks up at her, and backs into the wall. This routine is all too familiar for the woman, who steps aside for other men to enter the room. They tell him to fight as hard as he can, and he does. He fails to recognize the needle they stab into his tattooed flesh until he's restrained on the bed. The room is cramped with people until pills are forced down his throat.**

**The men leave, and she repeats her words before Randy's eyes are swollen with tears he refuses to let fall. Dave enters the room, he's used to seeing the way they have to restrain him, and doesn't expect any less, but the fight in Orton has gone down dramatically, and it almost breaks his heart.**

**He smiles, and Randy looks at him confused. They're silent until Dave speaks. Again, he asks if they're divorced, that woman always calls him that. He's sure his last name has changed back to Orton; and this time Dave shakes his head, and lets Randy run his fingers over the wedding ring he gave him years ago. **

**There isn't anything to focus on in the room, and Dave doesn't mind. He'd rather try to get Randy's eyes to meet his. "When you get out of here, we'll go to the Meadowlands Racetrack."**

**He misses that smile on Randy's face.**


End file.
